


You're Mine

by angedeslarmes



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Gay Sex, Implied Mpreg, M/M, Mpreg
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-05
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2020-01-05 10:34:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 22,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18364283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angedeslarmes/pseuds/angedeslarmes
Summary: The Drifter, against his better judgement, places a bet and loses.





	1. Drifter

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever destiny fic, and since I'm VERY new to it, i apologize for any inconsistencies. Warning, this fic involves gay relationships, so please don't read it if you're not into gay relationships.  
> Also, the chapters will switch off between the points of view of the drifter and his lover.

I came to feeling something warm beside me, and yawning I stretched my body along it. It was only when I turned my head to see what or who it was; everything from the night before came rushing back to me. I smirked, reaching to the guardian’s thick glossy black hair that I’d taken great pleasure in messing up, and ran my hands through it gently. The blankets were down around his waist and his light blue grey skin was soft under my fingers. I leaned down and kissed his shoulders, trailing my fingers down his back and being greeted by a heavy sigh.

                Blearily, he turned around, his eyes alighting on mine, and he smiled lazily but gave a sharp intake of breath when he tried to move.

                “Good morning,” I said huskily, smirking at the slight flush on his cheeks as he, too, remembered. He reached to my face and ran his fingers along my jaw, pulling me closer. He didn’t have to ask me to kiss him; I’d been addicted to his taste for months, ever since I’d first met him. He was a beautiful awoken warlock, and just being near him made my cock grow in desire. His bright blue eyes fluttered to a close as we spent longer than we should have making out with each other, both of us putting off important errands.

                The thing was, he was a mute. At first, I hadn’t believed it, but the collar he wore around his neck (and kept well hidden) was his voice. His ghost had helped him find it, and as much as I hated to admit it, it had done right by him. His collar couldn’t handle sex talk however, and so I couldn’t hear his cries of pleasure, and it interested me.

                I could never forget the first time I saw him; I’d caught him snooping around my quarters and after some intense interrogation, his ghost had told me that he was mute. But I think I’d been smitten before that point, even though I dealt with awoken all the time, there was something about the way he moved and held himself, so…arrogantly.

                Last night had been our first time fucking each other, and I was falling for him more every minute. The way he looked at me, the way his eyes lit up when they saw me, it was unlike anything I’d experienced in a very long time.

                “Mm, I have something for the pain, give me a minute to find it,” I whispered into his lips, and he nodded at me, watching as I got off my bed and started rustling through crates and drawers. My quarters were a mess, and so used to be alone as I was, I didn’t think about the fact my bed would have been so small for sex. He hadn’t seemed to mind, and I felt kind of bad at the fact he could barely walk as he shuffled over to where I was. I poured him some water and handed it to him, feeding him the pills. His eyes were grateful as he swallowed the icy cold liquid, and he reached up to touch the knob on his collar that allowed him to speak.

                “Thank you,” he said, the tinny and robotic sound all I knew of his voice, but endearing none the less. It was obvious he was into me as much as I was into him, but I had to be careful because I ran with a lot of unsavoury folk.

                “Don’t thank me just yet, you lost the bet we had,” I reached for him and pulled him flush to my body, both of us still in the nude. He flushed again, his eyes searching mine.

                “Hm, I like to think I’ve won so much more though. I may have lost the battle, but I’ll win the war.” I rose a brow at him, my lips curled in a smirk. His arms slipped around my neck and we stood there like that before I sighed and picked him up, carrying him back to my bed.

                “Today, you rest, but since you’re my personal servant now, you’ll have to get used to doing as I say,” I told him. He laid back, his legs parting just enough to tease me as his cock rose to half-mast.

                “Like I said. I don’t think I actually lost anything.”

                “Is that so, guardian?” I crawled on top of him, my breath hot on his face. He hastily shut off his voice collar as I ground my body against his. It had been an exceedingly long time since I’d had someone in my bed, and the fact he was so pliant and willing made my body ache for more. I took it easy on him, considering the night before I had taken his virginity and we’d fucked hard.

                His ragged breathing was somehow more erotic than any amount of moaning I’d heard in my lifetime, and his face was so perfect as it contorted into pleasured expressions.

                “Yeah, you like that?” I whispered as I tugged an orgasm out of him, his back arching up and his eyes shutting in bliss. I turned him over and spanked him, his tight ass only furthering my aching hard on.  I wanted to be careful with him though and slowly lowered him back down to the bed. He watched me closely as I moved the blankets over him and reached for my pants.

                “Ol’ Drifter has work to do, you stay here and sleep that off, and when you wake up we’ll start.” He nodded at me and yawned, turning to face the wall and falling asleep fast. I still had a shit eating grin on my face hours later. I’d won me a faithful guardian servant, pulled him over to my side to join the ranks of the Dredgin, and good in the sack to boot even if he was a virgin.

                Something about him felt right to me, and as the weeks wore on and we got closer, I stopped sending him on dangerous missions and had him stay closer to home and by my side. He was snarky and witty, and could give as good as he got. He was a fierce fighter in gambit, always getting me those precious motes, though I had to admit anytime he died my heart squeezed a little, but that ever present faithful ghost of his always brought him back.

                One night we were alone, playing cards, and I got the feeling something was up his sleeve so I watched him carefully. He had an amazing poker face, and I narrowed my eyes at him, sitting back in my seat with my cards in my hand.

                “Why do I get the feeling you’re cheating, Dex?” He reached up and twisted the knob on his collar so he could speak.

                “Yeah, why do you get that feeling?” he quipped back at me. I watched him, his eyes open and guileless and tearing holes into my soul.

                “You wanna take a bet?” I asked, and felt that old familiar rush of emotions as he nodded and leaned forward.

                “I win, and you give yourself to me completely. We have the ceremony right here and now, your ghost can officiate. You win, and you’re free of my service.” I gulped, purposefully putting high stakes on this. His mouth dropped a little, and I saw the pain in his eyes. I’d been hard on him sometimes, but more recently I couldn’t bear seeing him hurt or coming close to pain in any way, and I knew it was unfair for me to keep him in my service. He had a long life ahead of him, I was just another old fogey in the way.

                “You’re on.” He turned off his voice and we settled down for a long game of cards. With such high stakes, we both gave it our all, but in the end…I set my cards down triumphantly, but he wiped the smirk from my face when he showed me his own hand. He’d won. I bowed my head.

                “Well, there’s the door. You’re free to go,” I gestured towards it and waited for him to stand up. He stayed seated, watching me with his damned bright eyes. He reached up to twist the knob, and I took a long swig of my drink that was sitting beside me.

                “What makes you think I want to leave? I may be free now, but I am also free to choose to stay. You need me.” Damn him. I hadn’t seen this happening. My heart thumped in my chest as he eyed me evenly. He stood up and ran his hand along the table, sauntering over to where I was still seated. He leaned forward, his nose brushing against mine.

                “I want…to stay with you.”

                “You’re crazier than I am.”

                “How so?”

                “Anyone who’s ever gotten close to me has either tried to kill me, or has been killed. I…can’t see that happen to you, too.” I told him softly. He watched me for a while, and then he leaned in closer.

                “Ghost?” He called, and it zoomed out of its hiding place under the pillows.

                “Yes, Dex?”

                “Officiate a wedding ceremony for us, please. We’re sticking around to bug him just a while longer,” he put his guns on the table on top of my cards and reached for my hands. I gulped, knowing that by us doing this it was putting him in a lot of danger.

                “Dex, are you sure? You’ll be an outcast just like me, forever. No friends, no allies, always on the run and always two steps ahead of your enemies.”

                “I don’t care, Drifter. I want to be with you. And besides, I’ve been an outcast for a long time. Seems no one likes hanging out with a gay man. The minute they find out, they leave. You never have.”

                The ceremony was short, and I knew our names would be written down somewhere in the marriage registry, but since it was so long no one would ever find out.

                “Kiss each other, now.” The Ghost said, and I pulled him down to my lips, my tongue leaping out ahead of me and massaging his. I reached down and grabbed his ass, picking him up and throwing him on my bed. I yanked down his pants and tore his shirt up, eagerly kicking off my boots in the process. We were glued to each other’s lips, neither one wanting to pull apart for too long. When I was wearing nothing, I shakily reached down and pulled his legs apart, yanking him towards me, and grabbed my dick, placing it at his tight hole. He gasped as I shoved myself inside him, wanting and needing him more by the minute. I slammed my hips into his ass, his eyes rolling to the back of his head as he looked up at me, and he reached to cup my face with his hand. His nails raked down my biceps as I continued nailing him into the bed, my cock aching for release inside of him.

                “Dex,” I moaned, watching as he started stroking his cock for release. I pushed his knees up to his chest and he gave a ragged moan, the sound heartwrenching and arousing simultaneously, and I went harder and faster. His cock started weeping precum as I came closer to my orgasm, and as I felt it build higher and higher I felt him shudder beneath me as pearly white ropes coated his stomach and mine.  With a roar I pounded him faster and harder and filled him to the brim with the force of my orgasm, my cock sputtering out  my blanks. I reached down and put two fingers inside of him, feeling his body constrict around me, and his eyes shone up at me in the dark. I fucked him with my fingers until I wrought another orgasm from him, knowing he had it in him to come multiple times. I may have been bi at one point, but being with him was enough to make me never want to even look at someone else. He made me feel alive for the first time in centuries, and dimly I felt my heart thud as a foreign emotion filled it.

                “You’re mine,” I whispered at him, milking another orgasm out of him with my cock again, and watched in satisfaction as his seed shot out for a third time.

                Afterwards, I lay beneath him while he was in my arms, calming down and talking.

                “I love you, Drifter. Why else do you think I would want to stay?” He said softly, and my heart stopped.

                “That’s a dangerous word, Dex. Don’t say that too often, I don’t want anyone else knowing that.” He nodded in understanding and I turned his chin up to face me.

                “It’s true. I would follow you to the edge of the universe. I would kill for you, I would die for you.” My heart thudded again and I rustled his hair.

                “Easy there, baby. One thing at a time.” He rose a brow at me.

                “Well we are married now, D.” He nuzzled my neck and started sucking on the soft skin, and I sighed in pleasure and let him do it. For the first time in a long time, I think I was happy.


	2. Dex

I woke up on top of Drifter, the man that held my heart and soul in his hands and knew it. We had taken a big gamble by deciding to make ‘this’ work, both of us knowing that at any moment he would need to pick up and go. He was good at what he did, and he made a decent living by running gambit, but still…he’d made a lot of enemies and he ran with the night crowd. I must have been the one and only bright spot in his life that had been, for so very long, without light.

                I yawned, my body rubbing against my husbands, and he woke up almost instantly, his exotic slanted eyes alighting on my own bright blue ones. He smiled down at me, his eyes glittering, and my heart skipped a beat. I reached up to the knob on my collar and twisted it so I could speak.

                “You should really look into getting a bigger bed.” He chuckled and ran his hands through my hair, knowing it relaxed me and turned me on.

                “Oh, but if I did that, we wouldn’t be able to be so close, and I gotta admit, I kinda like having you within breaths width. Easier to…” he trailed off and pinched my ass, making me smirk.

                “What’s on the agenda today?” I asked, casually holding his face in my hand. He pushed his cheek into my hand and gazed up at me.

                “I have some meetings with some people,” he said, ever the cagey man. I shrugged.

                “Alright, I’ll lay low then.” I was ok with being simple minded with him, mainly because I knew the type of people he met with, and I didn’t want him to have to worry about me. Well fuck, we were well past the stage of not worrying about each other, we’d fucking married each other last night. I didn’t care if he didn’t feel the same way about me as I did him, but I had a damned good idea that it wasn’t completely unrequited. I saw the way he looked at me when he thought I wasn’t looking. I didn’t want for much out of my life, and honestly as long as I was with him, I was fine.

                I was wandering around his ship, which by now I wondered why I hadn’t really done so before, but technically I was a free man now. My ghost was at my side, and even though I had my collar turned off, we knew how to communicate without spoken words. The ghost was helping me find my way and I ended up at a door that looked like it hadn’t been used in a long time. Curious, I stepped forward, my hand outstretched and ready to open it when I heard a loud thud from the end of the corridor. I slunk to the shadows, my ghost hiding in my pocket. I watched as someone shuffled their way down and they stopped when they were nearly three feet away from me. I fingered the gun in its holster, ever present at my hip, and waited patiently.

                “So, you’re his new fuck toy, eh? Just a warning, he’ll leave you high and dry, like he has all of his past lovers,” the voice was tinny and sounded like it was coming from beneath a mask, and sure enough the figure stalked off with clanging of boots sounding against the corrugated metal of Drifter’s ship. I narrowed my eyes, watching him until he was out of my line of sight, and moved on away from the door. I wasn’t five feet from it when I felt hands around my throat and my body being thrown into a wall. Pissed, I already had balls of energy in one hand, my hand reaching for my gun, but the threat was too fast and had me pinned against the floor and was punching me into the ground. I held my hand up and sent a pulse blast his way, knocking him back and I heard the same voice from before though this time it was laughing at me sardonically.

                “I can’t believe this is your new slave, Drif. I’ll gladly take him off your hands, if you want.” From behind me I heard his voice and he leaned against the wall. I knew better than to look at him, because I could give us away if I did.

                “He ain’t for sale.” The voice scoffed at Drifter’s calm rebuttal. “He ain’t for sale, so you can get your ass off my ship and away from my servant.” I wiped blood from my face and scowled at the hooded figure. My ghost came out of nowhere and hovered over my shoulder, and I slowly got up keeping my eyes on the other man. Something tense was in the air between Drifter and this man, and I only had a moment to ponder on it before he spun on his heel and stalked away. We both kept our eyes narrowed on him for a long time, but then Drifter was at my side looking me over.

                “You alright, kid?” I rolled my eyes, not bothering to turn my voice on because he wouldn’t have liked what I had to say. I shrugged him off, not wanting to have this conversation. I did however turn around to look at him, and he could see the anger in my eyes. I had had to learn from a young age how to communicate without talking because this fancy collar I had was expensive. He walked towards me, pushing me up against the wall, and my mind started going fuzzy. I wanted to look away damn it but the concern in his eyes and written all over his face made me pause. He’d never quite looked at me so openly before, unless we were fucking.

                “Hey, don’t lie to me. I need to know what you’re thinking, Dex,” he said softly, putting his forehead against mine. I calmed my breathing with great difficulty, and put my ghost in my pocket since I knew he hated them. I pushed my face into his hand and watched him, showing him my emotions through my eyes that I usually tried so hard to keep hidden from him. Drifter nodded at me, understanding what I was telling him. I was hurt, and scared, and more than a little pissed off because obviously, Drifter had some unfinished business with an ex-lover that was here to collect. To say nothing of my own needs and wants, and besides I knew he had a long and complicated past.

                “I told you, you’re mine. I’m yours. I wouldn’t have even mentioned it if I didn’t feel something for you.” I nodded and reached up to grab his hand with my own, turning my face and kissing his calloused skin. I shivered as I thought about where those hands had been just hours before this moment, and sighed. I turned the knob on my collar.

                “I know it’s stupid, but I trust you, even though I shouldn’t, and it’s fine because I don’t expect you to ever change. I don’t want you to change, I want…” I sighed harshly, not even attempting to keep my emotions in check this time. I swallowed past the lump in my throat and tried again.

                “I love you for who you are, and I’m incredibly attracted to your danger. I want more than anything to stay by your side for better or for worse, but some things I think you’re going to have to share with me ahead of time. I don’t expect to know everything, nor do I think it’s safe for me to know all of your dealings, but damn it all Drifter,” I stopped before emotion took over me. He cupped the side of my face and kissed me softly, his lips moving against my own and his teeth nipping me every so often. Fuck.

                “Fuck.” I cursed my stupid collar and fumbled at the knob, turning it off.

                “Pretty strong words there, Dex. You’re gonna have to keep those emotions in check when we ain’t alone.” In Drifter speak, that actually meant a lot more than people knew. His kiss deepened, mouth widening and tongue snaking in to feel mine, and I sighed softly. I’d follow this fucker to the ends of the verse if he asked me. I pulled his robe open and started tugging it off him, the only sound in the hallway the sharp smacking of our lips and tongues. He lifted my legs up and ground his hard-on against me, and I gasped sharply. I might not have been able to moan, but I could do other things. My ragged breathing was the only sign that I was incredibly turned on, and when I felt him tug my pants down I smirked.

                “You like that?” he teased, breath hot on my neck and his purring voice in my ear. If I’d had a voice I would have shouted as he forced his hard dick into me. He fucked me hard against the wall, the slapping sounds of skin on skin reverberating down the metal hallway, the only other noise my ragged breathing and his panting. He bit down on the soft skin of my neck and I could only hiss in pain as I felt his teeth break the skin.

                “C’mon, Dex, come for me!” he growled, slamming his hips into my ass even harder. He started reaching my sweet spot and pleasure bloomed at the base of my spine, spreading to my entire body like wildfire. Gritting my teeth, I succumbed to the pleasure and my dick erupted at the force of it all. I felt him shudder as if from a distance, and he stayed sheathed inside of me as he calmed his breathing. I bit my lip as I looked at him, sweaty and riding out his orgasm, and my heart twitched again. Damn it, damn it, damn it all.


	3. Drifter

Couple of weeks went by without a hitch between Dex and I, which was good. The man made me shiver every time he was around, and not always in a good way. Sometimes I’d be making myself something to eat and I could feel eyes on me, and I didn’t need to turn around since the glow gave him away. I smirked to myself, and wouldn’t bother turning around but would address him.

                “I know you’re there, guardian.” He would stiffen since he was busted at staring at me, but it made that damned cold heart of mine twitch, and something else too if I was honest. He walked up behind me and sniffed at the food experimentally, just simple ramen really but it made me curious.

                “You ever had this before?” He shook his head in denial, and I shrugged at him.

                “You’re missin’ out, Dex. You want some?” I stuck my chopsticks in and dangled some noodles in front of him, and he opened his mouth like a good boy. I held his chin and put it in his mouth, and he chewed for a minute before reaching up to his collar to twist the knob so he could talk.

                “It’s good, I didn’t know you cooked. We usually eat takeout,” he still had an edge to his voice and I knew he was probably still miffed about the fella’ a few weeks prior.

                “I’m a man of many secrets,” I gave him a shit-eating grin and leaned up against the counter, eating and watching him closely. He crept over to me and walked his fingers up my arm. I smirked again.

                “Got a good fill lookin’ yet?” He rolled his eyes at me, and I gave him another bite. He made a noise that made me want to drop as he smacked away at the noodles in content. Suddenly I didn’t feel so hungry anymore, not for food anyways, as I looked at his patient and quiet face. I narrowed my eyes at him.

                “What’ve you been up to, anyways?” He smiled an innocent smile at me, too innocent.

                “Nothing interesting, just running around, doing bounties…crashing parties.” I watched him for a bit, and then put the bowl down beside me.

                “What ‘parties’? Ain’t been no parties lately,” I grumbled.

                “That’s what you think.” I was on him in a beat, the gun in my belt pressing into his stomach, and my hands on either side of his waist gripping the counter behind him. He smirked at me. Sly bastard.

                “Dex,” I leaned my face into his neck, giving him a little lick. He shivered and it was my turn to smirk. “Don’t you be lyin’ to me, kid.”

                “Oh, I think we both have our fair share of secrets, Drifter. Like this really interesting rumour going around that you’re actually…Dredgen.” My eyes flashed dangerously hearing him say that word, and my lips set into a thin line.

                “Who’ you been talkin’ to? Cuz they sure ain’t friends o’ mine,” my voice was low and dangerous, and the look in his eye was…scared? Angry? Whatever, it didn’t matter, but what did matter is if he was asking those types of questions, then we might have to leave soon.

                “I heard it in passing. Don’t lie to me, Drifter. I’ve been honest with you. You don’t have to tell me your whole backstory, I don’t care, but I want to know…is it true?” We had a stare off then, his bright glowing eyes staring holes into my narrowed blue ones.

                “That was a long time ago, Dex. I go by Drifter now.” His eyes widened, and I looked down, still pressing him up against the counter. He chewed his lip and I could tell he was pissed. He shoved my chest and sidestepped me.

                “Dex!” I called after him. He started gesticulating with his hands wildly, and I rose a brow thinking he’d lost his mind before his ghost mentioned something about how I don’t know ‘sign language’. The fuck?

                “I just…need a moment. That’s a fucking huge problem, Drifter!” he hissed at me, and then he went into a stream of cursing that reached pitches so high his collar couldn’t handle it and so it started making shrill feedback noises. He furiously reached up and tore it off his neck, punching the wall and kicking a bucket over. He hunched over the table breathing harshly, and I frowned. He reached out and clutched his collar, tightening it around his neck again. He gave me one last look before he stalked out of the kitchen.

                “I’ll…be back. I need to get away from you for a few hours.” I watched him leave, feeling…something, but dammit if I didn’t know what the hell it meant. I walked to my bedroom that still smelled like sex and sat down at my gun table, pulling apart a gun and putting something else together to set my mind straight. What was I gonna tell him? I chewed my lip as I started cleaning, the gun oil coating my favourite stained rag and permeating the room. It was hours before I heard Dex stumbling around the ship, and I froze when I heard him muttering to his Ghost.

                “…didn’t know Aunor was covering an investigation into him, or that upstart runnin’ around like he owns the place, saving people and shit.” He stumbled into the doorway and leaned heavily on one hand, his ghost, if they could have an expression, looking for all the world as if it was sick of his shit. I sat back in my chair studying the very drunk warlock of mine, as his gaze shifted to the bed and to me, to the gun I was working on. I sighed and scraped the chair against the floor, intending to help him into bed. Like I said, he was real pretty and I didn’t want anything to happen to him. He pulled his gun on me and I felt another pull on my heart. I slowly put my hands up, and he stumbled forwards, bangin’ his knee on the edge of the bed.

                “Shit,” he murmured, his gun flying out of his hands. I reached down and set it on the table away from him, and then in a bold move, removed my own gun and set it next to his. He looked like he was having a hard time following this turn of events, and looked up at me with his lower lip quivering.

                “I been nothin’ but loyal to you, Drifter,” he slurred, tears in his eyes. “How could you?” I leaned down and hefted him up onto the bed as he fought to keep back tears. His ghost hid itself somewhere in the room with us, and I stroked the side of his face.

                “I never said anything about baring my soul to ya’, guardian.” Dex looked like he’d been slapped, and then the tears did start falling. He angrily brushed them away.

                “I didn’t want…to know, I thought…I told you *hic* not to lie to me,” adorable as it was that his collar picked up his hiccup, I pressed his hands to my chest in a display of affection.

                “I ain’t been lyin’, Dex,” I said softly. “You just weren’t askin’ me the right questions.” He pouted at that, and then leaned in.

                “Can I trust you?”

                “Hm, can you?” I leaned my face in until our noses touched, and he gave a long breath before sighing and slumping forward to pass out in my arms. I laid him down on our bed and covered him up, taking his boots off and everything else until he was more comfortable in his skin tight body suit. I sat back down at my desk and kept an eye on him through the night, churning over the information he’d unwittingly given me. He may have lost trust in me, but I sure as fuck trusted him. And in my profession, that was a liability. I glanced over at his sleeping form on my bed, and sighed. We’d already done the deed, and it was certainly more than ‘just fucking’ at this point. I cared about the slimy git, and I knew how he felt about me since he’d said it more than once already.

                “Stupid,” I muttered to myself, turning back to the gun I was working on and losing myself to my thoughts.

                It was some time before I heard him stir, and he sat up with a groan and flung his feet over the side of the bed. I checked the time, sure as shit it was morning. Early, though. I didn’t say nothin’ to him as he stood up and swayed, checking his balance, and his ghost followed him out presumably so he could use the bathroom. Nothing could have prepared me for him waltzing back in here and sitting on my lap, nibbling on a piece of bread. His eyes roved over my face and though I was very good at keeping a neutral/sly expression, he had a habit of breaking me. He leaned forward and pulled a knife out, putting a block of cheese on the table and slicing it. I was about ready to ask him what the hell he was doing when he picked it up and fed it to me. Shock then coloured my face. No one had ever done that for me, and I opened my mouth automatically and let the item in so I could chew on it. Our eyes stayed on each other, and he took another nibble out of his piece of bread.

                He fed me several more slices, and by the time we were done with the whole intimate act I was hard pressed to find words to give him. I’d be damned if I looked away from him though. He reached up and twisted the knob on his collar, and his voice filled the small space.

                “I thought about it.” I scoffed.

                “Seems like you drank too much to think coherently, there, Dex.” He frowned and settled himself into my lap better. Without thinking, my arm reached out and went around his waist, pulling him closer to me.

                “You’re not wrong there,” he said with a sigh, “but I’m serious. I…went and did a few Crucible matches last night, and blew off steam. I guess you’re right, I wasn’t asking the right questions. But then, it’s not like you make it easy on me either. For the first several months we were even together I was your loyal servant thanks to that blasted bet I lost, but the only thing that seemed to be on our minds then was fucking.” I rubbed the small of his back, watching him intently.

                “But then shit changed, and I…I’ve looked up to you forever. I wanted…more of you, more than I felt that you could give me, but I didn’t care as long as I had you. I just thought you were…an outcast.”

                “Are you telling me you’re regretting staying with me?” He shook his head violently.

                “Not at all. What I’m telling you is that I fucking love you and hate you right now, and I feel you pulling me further from the light, and I fucking don’t care because it’s you and I’d follow you to hell itself.” I pulled him down into a hot kiss, not able to take so much emotion rushing through me at once. He gave a muffled noise and kept his collar on as I picked him up and carried him to the bed, clothes being torn off and soon I was sheathed inside of his warm heat.

                “Drifter!” he gasped as I slammed my hips into him. Dammit, why did this have to be so fucking complicated? I mean yeah sure, we’d tied the knot and all, but that was more so I could keep an eye on him, not…feel shit.

                “Damn you,” I gasped as I tore him a new one, leaning over and kissing his neck with more teeth than lips and flipped him over and fucked him until we were both crying. “Dex,” I moaned, riding out my release and sliding out slowly. We laid there for a long time, lost in our own little worlds, and then I realized that he’d fallen asleep against me.

                “You obviously trust me enough to sleep with me, Dex.” I murmured, running a hand down his back and fingering the hem of the blanket. I tugged it out from beneath him and he grunted, and I reached down and turned off his collar for him. What surprised me more than the fact that I was thinking such domesticated thoughts was the fact that I wanted to stay close to him, to hold him close to me, and fuck everything else.

                ‘Yeah well, the time to run has passed. He’s with you for better or for worse, forever.’ I told myself, and leaned down to kiss his soft hair. I planted kisses down his spine and over his shoulders and neck, and he moved in his sleep. This time, I did lay down next to him and I was on top, one arm thrown over his lower back and our guns off to the side, damn the consequences.


	4. Dex

When I woke up, my entire body ached, and I felt light breathing on my neck. I turned over, Drifters’ arm over my waist, and he frowned in his sleep, clutching me tighter. I ran my hands through his tousled hair, kissing his forehead and admiring him. Fuck if he wasn’t hot like this, no clothes on and bare chested, a nice patch of hair covering his pecs and his headband drooping over one eye. I traced the scars on his face, feeling his beard and sighed to myself. There was so much more to him than met the eye, so much depth to his character that I had yet to discover, and every day I spent with him I felt closer and closer.

                “Mm…got a good look in, guardian?” his muffled voice thick with sleep drifted up to me, and he pulled me back down to be face to face. Fuck it all, I thought, letting him pull me to a wake up kiss, ignoring the morning breath and letting him take my tongue from me. I fisted his hair and returned the kiss with fervor, and he grunted into my mouth.

                “Easy there, Dex,” he muttered, hissing when I bit his lip a little harder than I’d intended. His broad hand reached down and grabbed hold of my ass and I fell into him, mouths still searing each other. He made a sound similar to a snarl as he crawled on top of me, and I opened my legs for him without even thinking. Fuck, I loved this. I loved waking up and fucking first thing, even though I’d been furious at him the night before, I still craved his touch. I was still furious at him, but it felt like it was melting away at each thrust and groan he gave, his breathing growing more rapidly. I reached up and clawed at the bars above the bed, scrabbling for purchase as I threw my head back and arched my back when my orgasm shook me. He always made me come so motherfucking hard, and when he came it was even harder. There was no denying we had good chemistry so far, and even if he did have aversions to feeling things for people, I knew he felt something for me. He sighed into my neck, leaning forward and nibbling it, and I turned to him to nuzzle his nose.

                “Hey…I’ve gotta go somewhere today, mind taggin’ along?” he asked, voice hoarse. I nodded, excited at the prospect of going out into space with him. He pulled his pants back on and shoved his feet into his boots, throwing on his shirt and duster last. He looked very disheveled, which was to say he looked downright fucking hot. I hurried and pulled on my clothes, and tossed him his gun before picking up my own.

                “Thanks, baby,” he uttered, and before I could even whirl around to look at him in shock, he was gone from out of the doorway. I turned the knob on my collar.

                “W-wait, Drifter!” I ran after him, but his long paced strides were no match for me and he was already sitting down in the cockpit by the time I entered out of breath. He didn’t say anything as I strapped myself in and he initiated the launch sequence, getting us the hell away from the Tower. Once we were on our way, he was able to put autopilot on and turned around to face me with a smirk.

                “Nervous? It’s all over your face,” his eyes roamed over my body, conflicting emotions flashing in his eyes and then he looked away. I went to get up and forgot I was still strapped in, so fell back into my chair before grumbling internally and extracting myself. Drifter was looking out the window and I walked over to stand beside him. He put his arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him, not looking at me directly but it made me very aware of our height difference; he was still several inches taller than I was, and it irritated me because he was able to use it to his advantage; and he did, all the time. I reached up and turned my collar on so I could talk again.

                “Where are we going, Drifter?”

                “Oh, I forgot somethin’ at an old safehouse of mine, and I need to get it back.” I assumed it was a weapon of some sort, or parts for a weapon. I nodded and went to walk away but his grip around my waist tightened and he brought me to his chest where I landed with a soft thump. I looked up at him in surprise, blinking.

                “Ya’ know, you’re real pretty, Dex. Especially when you look at me like that,” he brushed his calloused fingers against my cheek and ran them down the side of my jaw. I swallowed, twice for good measure, and flushed slightly at the compliment. Cupping my face, he leaned down and planted a soft kiss on my lips, holding me closer to his body than ever. I reached up hesitantly, unsure of what he was getting at, but it seemed he just wanted to be close to me for a bit. I loved his calloused fingers, they spoke of a lifetime of hard work, and they felt good when they were running along my smooth skin. He was so rough and rugged, with so much hair all over him, and I was the exact opposite, but our physical appearances I felt were the least of our differences.

                “I…” I started, but then swallowed the rest of the words. However, since the collar was connected to my brainwaves, the words still came out. “I love you.” Drifter smirked.

                “Again, that’s a pretty strong word there, Dex. Let’s keep that between us,” he rubbed his hands on my waist one last time and patted my ass to get me to move.

                “C’mon, let’s get to the armoury, get fitted out. No tellin’ what we’ll be facin’ when we get to mars, guardian.” I nodded and he led the way to my favourite room on board; the room where he kept all his guns. I always got giddy when we came in here, but knew better than to touch as Drifter usually gave me pretty good weapons. I had my normal gun at my hip and he clasped his hands together as he cast a weathered eye over them, assessing each one’s pros and cons.

                “C’mere, baby,” he said, seemingly off in his mind but my heart thumped painfully in my chest when he called me that again. He gave me a sniper rifle and a hand gun to compliment the one I already had, and then gave himself a grenade launcher and three more knives; no telling how many more weapons he had hidden on his body. He had one gun tucked into his belt and one over his shoulder, then the grenade launcher he swung over his arm. We were both pretty well armed, and he showed me out of there shortly after that. I waited in the hall while he locked up, and then he gestured for me to follow him again. As if I needed telling twice.

                We went back to the command center of the ship, past where he held his gambit matches, and I shivered. How many times had I stood on those very platforms, watching him stalk around and flip his green coins around, telling us all what we’d be fighting…how many times had I heard his voice purr into my ear before he ever even knew my name…

                “…need to be on the lookout for anything outta the ordinary, Dex.” I heard my name and came back to Earth sharply, then felt as if I was falling backwards. I reached forward, hands reaching at thin air, but it was just Drifter pulling me down to sit on his lap. He looked quite amused, and I blushed, knowing I was busted. He’d caught me daydreaming about him, and I looked away. His hand on my waist kept me seated however, and he reached up to play with the hair at the nape of my neck. It was such a tender action from him, and it seemed like today he was just full of surprises. The new nickname, the tenderness, the…emotion, he was showing so much of it!

                “This is where you belong, Dex; on my lap, off to do some illicit activities with me.” He laughed at his joke, and I smiled at him, white teeth flashing in his direction. I snuggled into his body so I was more comfortable, and we sat in companionable silence for a little while. After a while, I heard what sounded like light snoring, and I looked up at his face in shock to see that he was dozing off slightly.

                ‘Damn, he must really feel safe around me, or secure, or whatever, because I’m armed to the teeth and he’s napping,’ I thought to myself. I focused on his face, and noticed some different things I hadn’t seen before on him. The dark bags under his eyes, the lines on his brows, the flush on his cheeks and every little pockmark and scar besides the big ones on his cheeks. I frowned, and then felt slightly ashamed when I realized that the reason for those big dark bags under his eyes was because of me; he probably hadn’t slept very well last night. I turned around, not wanting him to catch me staring again, and waited silently, keeping a sharp eye out for anything unusual.


	5. Drifter

Feeling Dex shift around on my lap was mildly arousing, but against my better judgement I soon fell asleep in my chair. I hadn’t gotten the best night’s sleep the night before, but I felt better knowing I’d be going into my old safe house with him at my side. I’d taken a chance and given him a term of endearment, I think that’s what the kids called it nowadays anyways, and was more satisfied than I should have been at the way he’d reacted. I decided I was going to use it on him from here on out because anything to make him flush was good by me.

                I startled myself awake, and Dex was still on my lap. Trying to play it off, I leaned my head on the arm not around his waist and looked up at him, not realizing I must have looked like shit to him.

                “We gettin’ close, baby?” he jumped, hearing my voice and I smirked at him. He was so easy to scare, but it seemed like it only happened around me. On the battlefield, he was hyper focused, rarely ever missed his marks, and was honestly one of the best players I’d ever encountered when it came to Gambit. He turned around, fingers flying to his throat so he could talk to me.

                “You were out for a couple hours, but yeah, we’re getting close Drifter. Are we going to mars?” he blinked at me and I watched him for a bit, admiring his pretty face before lifting a hand to idly run a finger along it.

                “Yeah,” was all I said, and he turned more into my touch. I felt a familiar heat starting in my belly and pulled him forward to capture his lips in a rough kiss. His fingers threaded through my hair and his tongue started caressing my own. We stayed like that for some time before the computer started beeping at us, telling us we were real close.  I pulled back to lean over and push some buttons and tapped his thigh to get up so I could man the ship closer.

                “Ready for transmat, guardian?” I turned around with a sly grin and he nodded, turning off his collar and summoning his helmet. I licked my lips at him; he looked damn hot in that armour of his. His ghost appeared and we appeared down on the surface a little ways away. I had my own helmet on of course, black with my insignia of the two snakes in red on the side. I went first, knowing he’d have my back, and then realized with a start I actually trusted the fucker. I held up a hand as I came up on my safe house and punched in a code to open the door. It looked fairly unassuming from the outside; small, like an old outhouse, but I pulled Dex in flush to my body to stand with me on the tube that would take us down after shutting the door. When the floor disappeared he tightened his grip on me and I smirked, reaching down with my free hand to pat him on the ass. His helmet turned to look up at me and once we were down the long drop, I knew it was safe to take my helmet off. I reached up and pressed the release on his own, reveling when I saw his bright blue eyes again.

                “You’re doin’ real good, Dex.” I muttered, and walked forward into the giant domed room, the lights coming on for me automatically as I approached the shelves. I was really only lookin’ for a couple of things, but also wanted to show off my stuff to Dex. He was busy clearing corners, and then I heard him speak to me.

                “Drifter, I think-”

                BANG. BANG BANG BANG. I whirled around just in time to see Dex dropping to his knees, and narrowed my eyes as I looked at the shadows. Sure as shit, we had hostiles in here, and I swore loudly as I had to make a tough decision then and there: do I kill Dex so he transmats back on the ship, or do I head for cover and let them kill him, and his damned ghost would revive him right here. I heard scornful laughing.

                “I always told ya’ I’d get you, friend. I told ya’ I’d be back, but this is more insight into what you’ve really been up to lately than I coulda’ hoped for,” the same Dredgen that had snuck aboard my ship weeks back was here, in my safe house, and I was pissed. I could have cared less had he shot at me, but my baby?

                “Dex!” I walked over to him and he looked up at me with sorrowful bright eyes, and I aimed my gun right at his head.

                “Don’t look.”

                BANG. That would be an awkward conversation later, but I needed him out of here, I needed him…safe. I entered into a firefight with the dredgen, didn’t look familiar to me really but for all I knew he’d compromised my entire place. I threw everything I had at him, the slimy little bastard hiding behind crates so I got real crafty then. I knew he was only a few inches away from some exploding rounds and backed him back into a corner where he couldn’t escape, and then voiced a command out loud to self-destruct my shit to kingdom come. I exploded the rounds on him, satisfied as he dropped to the floor, and shot myself in the head so I could get back to Dex. I mean, so I could get back to _the Derelict_.

                When I came back I groaned; it was never a fun time when I had to shoot myself. My heart squeezed as I got up from the floor of the closet my ghost had so lovingly deposited me in, and opened the door so I could go find my baby. I felt he was in our room-er, the room we shared, that was to say-and focused on getting there. I knew he’d be pissed at me, but I couldn’t have him knowing that the only one I wanted to kill him was me. Only I had that right, and I hadn’t done it because I wanted him dead…quite the opposite.

                Sure as shit he was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking down at his boots, and when I appeared in the doorway, he shot up, pointing his gun at me with fury in his eyes. I held up my hands to placate him, but he looked fucking furious.

                “Now, Dex…” I said, easing my way over in front of him, and I put my hand on his gun to lower it so we could talk. I saw him reaching for his collar, and flinched at the stream of curses that met me when he turned it on.

                “-cocksucking sonofabitchin’ traitorous murdering fucking bastard! You fucking shot me you goddamn-” I shut off his collar and pulled him into a tight hug.

                “Baby, I didn’t mean to,” I said, which was false because I had totally meant to, but it wouldn’t do to have him know why. He pushed on my chest and a small part of me ached to have him back. He turned on his collar again but he was quiet this time.

                “Are ya’ calmed down yet?”

                “Fuck no, I’m not calm! Why in the fucking Nine did you shoot me? I could have helped you!” His hand was still on his gun but his finger moved away from the trigger. It was endearing, being around someone that I knew wanted to kill me in that moment but wouldn’t because of how he felt about me. I sighed and sat down in my chair at my gun desk, facing him.

                “Dex…” I muttered, not knowing where to begin. He held up a hand.

                “Did we at least get the fucking parts we came for?” I blinked.

                “Yeah, I got what I needed, baby,” I put my head in my hand and the last word sorta slipped outta my mouth but the harsh intake of breath had me looking back up at him. He was biting his lip and his chest was rising and falling quickly.

                “You bastard.” He holstered his gun and stalked out of there, leaving his helmet on the bed. I grit my teeth and reached into my pockets for the parts I needed to finish what I was working on and turned around, working away. It was a gun, but it was special…and it was for him. A masterpiece of art, really, and I spent extra time and care makin’ it look real pretty for him. I put an ornament on that was blood red and hung around the barrel, the rest of lookin’ bright green, and even put together some special ammo for him. I left it sitting there on the table and got up, my ass sore from sitting so long. It was time for me to go run a few matches of Gambit, to clear my head. Nothing like watching other guardians kill each other over motes to get my blood running.


	6. Dex

I stalked around the ship muttering curses to myself while Drifter ran his gambit matches. I could hear his voice down the hall watching his screens and egging the players on and I rolled my eyes. I moved away from the area and traveled back to the kitchen, feeling my stomach rolling in hunger. I was always starving after I got revived, fucking ravenous, and Drifter usually had some interesting things laying around. I fixed myself some ramen and horked it down greedily, the more I ate the more my tastebuds demanded more. My ghost came out from my pocket and looked me over.

                “I’m sorry Dex, I’ll try to make it so it’s not so hard on you from here on out,” she commented, and I shrugged, turning my collar back on.

                “S’fine, really. I don’t mind it so much to be honest. I just wish we could fix my fucking problem,” I muttered. She floated around me while I shoveled more ramen into my face, and continued our conversation.

                “Did he really make you that angry?” I frowned at the question.

                “It’s…whatever. I know he’s got his own reasons.”

                “You trust him…still?”

                “He’s a sonofabitch, but you know how I feel about him, Ghost.”

                “Well, if this is really the path you want to take…” I said nothing after that. If going down this path meant that I was with Drifter, then fuck yes I would do it. I would do anything for him. I would kill, lie, stalk, whatever it took. I put my dishes in the sink and bent down, opening the fridge to look for something to drink.

                “On the top shelf there, baby.” I swore heavily as I hit my head against the top of the fridge and spun around, reaching for the gun at my hip but realizing I’d left it on the counter by the sink.

                “You asshole, how long were you there for?” I looked at him accusingly and he took a sip of the beer in his hand, his eyes twinkling. My heart fluttered…had he really come straight from Gambit to check up on me?

                “Long enough…” he trailed off, and then took another swig. I sighed, turning back around and grabbing what I wanted; a small packet of juice. I started sucking on it and he rose a brow, leaning against the frame of the doorway looking like a wolf stalking his prey. I gulped, and then grumbled something before turning off my collar and turning around to face the wall. I was startled when I felt his thick arms wrap around my waist and his beard tickle my neck as he nuzzled into it, kissing me softly.

                “I know you’re mad, Dex. Don’t be.” I settled back into his chest automatically, hating that it was so easy for him to rile me and then calm me down…and then rile me again. I reached up to touch his hands, and we got lost in the tenderness of the moment. So raw, so….open, I wanted to turn around and see his face.

                “I don’t want you to leave me, baby, I gotta let you know that I still love you,” he whispered into my ear, and my breathing stopped. He rested his head on my shoulders and I gripped his broad, calloused hands in my own, breathing in his scent. I reached up and fingered my collar, but didn’t want to ruin anything by talking so I dropped my hands and fell into his embrace.

                “Come to bed with me,” he muttered, and pulled my hand to follow him to the room we slept in. I let him string me along and when we got into the room he shut the door and made me take a seat on the bed. He picked the gun he’d been working on up from where it was screwed into place and brought it over, and my eyes widened at how gorgeous it was…draped in Drifter’s colours from Gambit, and lethal.

                “I made this for you, it’s why we went out to the safehouse, Dex.” His voice was soft and he knelt in front of me, holding the weapon out. I reached up to turn on my collar, and finally spoke.

                “Drifter…this is beautiful…” I murmured, and he pushed it into my hands so I could check it out.

                “A beautiful gun for a beautiful man. I call it…Malfeasance.”

                “Fuck, Drifter, I…don’t know what to say.”

                “Don’t say nothin’, then, hotshot. Just accept the gift.” My eyes clashed with his, and he was trying very carefully to conceal his emotions but after what he’d said earlier... I wasn’t about to let him get away with being aloof right now.

                “Alright,” I tucked it into my belt and pulled him forward, taking his mouth with my own. He responded in kind and we tussled around for a bit before I had him beneath me while I sat on his lap on the bed. The mood was very intimate right now, and when we started pulling each other’s’ clothes off it was slow and deliberate, not rushing or hasty like we usually were.

                “Drifter,” I sighed, pushing my face into his neck while his hands grabbed my ass and spread it apart so that he could push his hard erection inside of me. I arched my back into him and sat down on it, wincing slightly as I got accustomed to him again, and heard him hiss in satisfaction once we got our rhythm down. I rode him until our climax hit us both, his dick hitting my sweet spot every time I went down. We collapsed in the bed together, kissing idly and exploring each other with our hands.

                “So…” I grinned up at him as he propped up his head on his hand.

                “What’s on your mind, guardian?”

                “That was a pretty…heavy word you said earlier,” I smirked at him and he watched me, chewing his lip.

                “Heat of the moment, ya’ know, don’t get too used to hearing that.” I was too thrilled to be upset at that, and playfully splayed my hands out on his chest, fingers running through the hair.

                “Ah, it’s fine. I’m just glad you finally said it, I knew you felt that way.”

                “Yeah, and now that I said it, you ain’t ever gonna shut up ‘bout it, are ya?” I giggled and shook my head.

                “Probably not, but I’ll be quiet when you have guests.” He smirked and pulled my head down to his chest, running his hands through my hair. I fell asleep shortly after that, still grinning.


	7. Drifter

We got into a good rhythm in the months after that, and I started looking into just who had it out for me, and even more important, who had it out for Dex. Sure, he might have made a few enemies, however I didn’t like the fact that someone was trackin’ us too closely. I was sitting at the table sipping at some coffee to wake up one morning a couple o’ months later when Dex ambled in, yawning and stretching. I smirked silently to myself; this was going to be good. He rustled around in the cupboards, and then bent over to look in the fridge, still half asleep and looking nicely tousled. His ghost popped up outta nowhere and tried talkin’ to him but he waved at her angrily. Eventually it seemed he was annoyed at the lack of food that was in the kitchen and settled for a bowl of cereal. He made a lot of grumbling and sighing sounds and he looked grumpy, but I just waited in the shadows while I watched him, waiting for him to turn around and see me. It wasn’t until he turned around and headed for the table that his eyes looked up and alighted on my face and he froze. If his skin could go paler, it would have been there.

                “See somethin’ ya’ like, there, hotshot?” I commented, smirking into my coffee. He scowled at me and I hid a chuckle before I kicked out a chair next to me so he could sit down, and he took it after offering a cursory nod in my direction, his shoulders still set in seething annoyance. I watched him for a bit, I liked seein’ him squirm, but he shoveled his food down even faster than usual.

                “Got somewhere to be, Dex?” I inquired, hoping he’d say yes so I could reach out to some of my old contacts for information. He reached up and turned his collar on.

                “I’m running a few bounties today, there’s a new gun I’m trying to get even though this one is my favourite,” he patted at Malfeasance which he wore at his back and I smiled.

                “Look at you, bein’ all important.” I stood up and put my coffee cup down on the table next to his bowl, grabbing his hand. He looked at me, something tender in his face that always seemed to be there when our eyes met anymore, and I rubbed my thumb along his jaw to turn his lips into mine for a swift kiss.

                “Be careful out there,” was all I said to him before he took off. When he was gone, it was just me and the ship all to our lonesome, which meant I could start checking databases and whatnot. Wouldn’t do to have him know I was too concerned about him, now would it. I sat down at my desk in our room, keeping the door open so I could get some airflow through there and started reading old reports, looking for anything that remotely resembled our little friend that had shot at us. He was Dredgen, that much I knew, but the rounds he’d fired at Dex hadn’t been from the guns we used to kill guardians, it’d been a normal run-of-the-mill gun, and he’d shot at places to immobilize, not to kill. I narrowed my eyes as I thought about it.

                He knew where we were goin’, and he’d been on the ship that night months ago when he’d attacked Dex…was it possible he was still on here with us? If he was, then he knew more about us than I was comfortable with; the only person that I gave a damn about knowing about me at all was currently running his own errands. Dex was under the impression that it was an ex lover of mine, but I’d never seen the man but a few times, and it’d been when I was pretty drunk to boot at a meet-up of sorts. And I had never seen his real face. It wasn’t The Renegade, no he moved differently, so then, why did he want to be where I was, and why would he want to shoot at my baby? The answer was too uncomfortable to think about, so I set about closing down some accounts and doing pre-flight check ups. I’d need to go and get supplies of course, but as far as I knew, the only way Dex or I would be safe is if we were near each other. The only man good enough to watch my back, and I considered myself the only one good enough to watch his. I wasn’t exactly quiet as I strode through the ship, but I did look over my shoulder more, and kept clearing rooms as I went. The ship was freezing as it always was, but there was a different chill in the air this time, something I was just coming to terms with; it wasn’t fear for myself, it was fear for Dex.

                ‘He’s played his hand, he wants this life, he’s made that clear!’ part of me warred with myself inside my head, but the other, quieter part of me, the part that knew beyond a shadow of a doubt the lengths I’d go to in order to keep him safe, was saying something different. ‘Yeah, he’s made it clear alright that he wants to be with you, but that doesn’t mean he quite knows exactly what he’s getting himself into. He needs you.’ I forced a gloved hand through my hair and sat down on a ledge against the wall, chewing my lip as I thought. I needed to get shit together, and then Dex and I were runnin’, there was no getting around it.

                I was still going around the ship hours later, putting shit away and checking liquids when I heard someone transmat onto the ship, and for a moment my heart squeezed, but I relaxed when I saw Dex comin’ ‘round the corner. I could have ran to him and hugged him, but I wasn’t about to let on that I’d missed him. He had a few knicks on his armour but other than that he looked fine.

                “That was fast,” I remarked, and he strode up to me and wrapped me into a tight embrace, his fingers threading through my hair and gripping harshly as he crushed his mouth to mine, hard. Somethin’ was off, though I let him have his way with me for a bit in order for him to relax.

                “Somethin’ spook ya’?” I muttered, and he pulled away just enough so he could look at me. It was only then I realized he was on his tip toes, and I reached down to hold onto his waist. He reached for his collar.

                “I was followed all day. I don’t know who, or why, or what, but I had a tough time getting away from them. They creeped me out, Drifter.”

                “Well, can’t say I blame ‘em,” I laughed, but there was an edge to my laugh that wasn’t humour and Dex picked up on it. He narrowed his eyes at me.

                “You aren’t playing a game on me, are you?”

                “What, outside the bedroom? Hell no.” He kept his eyes narrowed up at me, and then stepped back with his arms folded over his chest.

                “Also, I’ve been seein’ a whole hell of a lot of guardians with my same gun, the one you told me was just for me,” he said accusingly. I shrugged, sweating slightly under that intense gaze.

                “I liked it, so I made more. It’s a damn good lookin’ gun, don’t ya’ think?” He rolled his eyes and pushed me playfully in the chest, and then looked around.

                “Smells cleaner in here than when I left. What’ve you been up to, Drifter?”

                “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

                “I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t.” I gave a short bark of laughter, but also wanted to get him out of the openness of the hallway suddenly. I tugged on his arm and led him to the only other place I felt safe, which was our room. I shut the door behind us and he sat down on the bed with a sigh, taking his boots off and setting them upright at the foot elegantly, and then came the rest of his armour until he was in something a lot more my speed; his underwear. He leaned back against the wall with his arm hooked over one of his arched knees, the other leg dangling straight off the bed. My eyes raked in the sight before me and he leaned his neck to one side, showcasing the bruised from my insistent neckin’ with him. I locked the door and walked towards the bed, needing a distraction from the tension that had kept my back straight all day, and left a crick in my neck from double checkin’ my steps.

                I stripped til’ I was as bare as he was, leaving my necklace on and settled my hips in between his legs before taking his lips roughly. Fire stoked between us and he wrapped his long legs around me, hooking his feet at my knees as I ground my hard cock against him. He reached down and slipped his hand between my legs and started stroking me off softly, as was his custom, and I just barely kept back a moan.

                “Drifter,” was all he sighed before he turned off his collar, and I swung him around so that he was sitting pretty on my lap. He shimmied his body down til’ he was looking up at me from my cock and he took me into his mouth, and damn it was heavy feeling. His warm, inviting heat surrounded me, making me pulse in desire, and I groaned and relaxed my shoulders, my head falling back against the wall while he went to town. I felt the pleasure growing and closed my eyes, spreading my legs just a little wider for him, when he pulled off. I bit back a curse.

                “Dex?” I called softly, but didn’t have to wonder long because he was crawling back on top of me and easing himself down on my cock this time.

                “D-nnn…” I panted and held onto his hips while I slammed my own up into him, watching as he rode me like I was a horse; our bodies knew each other too well, we were in complete sync with each other, there was no more awkward talking about ‘not like that’ or ‘touch this’, we were both connected by somethin’ greater than ourselves.

                He started goin’ to town on me and it was all I could do to keep up before I growled and flipped us so that he was on the bottom. I sheathed myself to his hot, needy core and went for about thirty seconds before I was coming inside him, and what was interesting to me was that he wasn’t very far behind me, arching his back into me and coating his stomach and chest.

                I would never get tired of this man, he was just too good. I reached for a towel that was hangin’ off the table behind the bed and wiped him off, and then pulled him closer to me so we could lay with each other and catch our breath for a bit.

                “Say, you want somethin’ to eat? We can go to that spicy ramen shop you like…?” I trailed off suggestively and he smiled, reaching for his collar weakly and fumbling at the knob.

                “Yeah, I’d like that. Let’s do it,” I helped him up and we got back into our clothes and then I transmatted us down into the Tower. We wandered around aimlessly, him with his helmet on his face and wearing his Reaper armor so people thought we were just lookin’ for random shit, and I went and ordered some food to go while he waited for me outside. I was grinnin’, and when I walked back out the door I looked for him, but found him nowhere to be seen. I frowned, but saw a note pinned up to the wall.

                _“Got you.”_  I nearly dropped the ramen as my heart stopped; Dex was gone, and I had no idea how to get him back. I looked around wildly, my heart aching as I searched every nook and cranny of that entire goddamned city, but I couldn’t pick up his scent. I was fucking furious; whoever had done this was gonna’ pay, and I wasn’t gonna’ be nice to them when I caught up. Imagine my fucking shock, then, when I went to my little part of the Tower in the Annex and found somethin’ that made my blood run cold; the man with the golden gun himself, leaning against the fence I usually leaned against, twirling his gun in his hands.

                “We need to talk.”


	8. Dex

I woke up on a hard surface and groaned; my body felt like it’d been through hell, which meant it probably had, but then bits and pieces came back to me; I was getting ramen with Drifter, and…someone had grabbed me from behind when I went to wait for him, knocking me out before I could even shout in surprise. It took me a minute to realize that I was stark naked and bound, my wrists and ankles spread apart. I rolled my eyes, wondering if this was actually a sick game of Drifter’s, but…a part of me knew it wasn’t. I jolted when I heard some clanging and strained my head to see but a bright white light was turned on and blinded me. I cringed from it and gasped, and then heard sinister chuckling.

                “At last, at laaaaaast, I have the very person that Drifter’s been soooooo….preoccupied with,” the voice came from all around me and my heart sank; it was the Dredgen from the ship that night.

                “Your boyfriend shot me, you know. Left me for dead. He shoulda’ finished the job.” I almost corrected him that he wasn’t just my boyfriend, but then remembered I couldn’t because apparently my collar was off. Not like I could have twisted the knob anyways.

                “Oh, looking for this? No matter,” it was tossed onto my stomach and I flinched at the sudden contact, “I will be fixing that soon enough so that I can hear your screams. Your delicious, pain filled screams….” What was he talking about? I was mute…it was such bad damage that my ghost couldn’t really fix it every single time, so we’d just settled for the collar a long time ago. I was used to it, it was my voice. I heard the sound of machinery turning on and looked over to the side, the Dredgen was standing there with his mask on, completely armed, and was holding up needles.

                The next long hours were the longest I’d ever been through. Pain didn’t even begin to describe it. He cut me open, left me for dead, then my Ghost resurrected me (she was in her own prison I found out)  and we started all over again. Tears were running down my face and likely tattooed into my skin by this point, and I lost track of time. All I know is, that in that dark time, I mentally tried reaching out to Drifter, knowing I couldn’t really do anything. I wept, and things only got worse one day when I woke up and found out…my voice was back. Any celebrating I would have done was quickly bashed as I was turned over onto my stomach and operated on from behind, all the while the bastard’s sick laughter echoed throughout the dreary, sterile room. I had no idea where I was, no idea who the bastard was, and I was starting to succumb to madness.

                ‘Good,’ I thought sadly, ‘I’ll finally be more like Drifter. Maybe then…’ I passed out again, but then felt myself being revived. I started crying, sobs racking my body, and my voice…it was hoarse and dry, unused to actually being used. I’d completely forgotten how…deep my voice was. It was…masculine, it felt like it didn’t belong to my body. I’m not sure what all was done to my body, I just know that when he was finally done opening me up, I felt…different. Foreign.

                “What…you do…me?” I rasped, demanding an answer only to be met with more laughter.

                “Such a neaderthal, brutishly talking like that. I did you a kindness, you know, giving you back your voice. I fixed you, I helped you!” he shrieked manically at me. I winced against the assault towards my ears, and then came the rape. He put a ball gag in my mouth and put…all sorts of things on me and inside me, tearing me apart and shredding my skin. My tears almost stopped coming out at the end of it…had he taken my tear ducts out? I wouldn’t have put it past him…

                Time passed. Time became a non-issue to me. All I knew was pain time, and non-pain time. He would stab needles into me constantly, injecting me with fuck-all-knows what, and every time, my ghost revived me again…and again…and again. I could feel sadness emanating from her, and I knew it wasn’t her fault but…I wanted peace, I just wanted…I wanted to die. I passed into and out of consciousness, and I didn’t have anyone to talk to. He may have restored my voice, but…I had yelled myself hoarse. I had rendered it unusable. He only fixed things when they broke, and if he didn’t then my ghost did when she revived me.

                One day, he came in and he had a bounce to his step that I hadn’t seen before. I shied away from him as much as I could and he laughed at the sight.

                “I have something that I think you’ll like to see,” he pulled up a screen and I saw…Drifter’s ship. I had to search for his name, and I was scared in that moment. Had I really started to forget him? Did I even remember my own name? Wait…what was I? I had blue skin….I knew I had a ghost, but…I was brought back to the moment by the lunatic laughing and pressing a button, and I watched as it was blown up before my eyes. I felt rage enter my entire being and my eyes shifted colours, but I knew it was useless to try and attack him. I’d tried in the past, there was some sort of suppressors on everything around us and it hurt me to use my power, so I shivered and curled up in a ball, weeping silently. I thought of him every day…all the time…I was scared that I had nearly forgotten his name. Time stretched onwards, torture day in and day out, and my mind was starting to stretch itself thin. I had long given up hope of thinking Drifter would come after me, because it just wasn’t his nature to feel attatchments, no matter how much I had wanted to be the one that brought him to his knees…my love hadn’t been enough. It didn’t matter that I had gone dark for him, that I had given him my soul and my heart, it didn’t matter that for those first six months that I’d been his servant I’d done whatever he’d asked. It didn’t matter that we’d gotten close, slowly and then…and then…nothing.

                The man had just left after giving me a thorough beating, and I was bleeding all over the table. I heard the door open again and didn’t even deign sighing. Back already? What, did you forget to put your fingers in me or something? But the footsteps this time…were different, softer…almost silent. My head was too weak and I assumed it was some trick of his again, and I shivered and curled up into myself. Until he spoke.

                “Dex?” My eyes flew open, and tears instantly started flowing out of me.

                “Stop….hurting…me…” I said thickly, thinking it was the Dredgen scientist, but then felt soft gloved hands on my shoulder. I hadn’t been touched so softly in….who knew how long, but when he turned me over and I looked into that scarred face, I noticed two things: one, he was handsome as ever, but two? He had infinite more lines, worry marred his every move, and his eyes weren’t shining in mischief like I remembered, this time they held heaps of pain and sorrow. I opened my mouth and reached up to him, the chains clanking against the table as I moved.

                “Drifter!” I sobbed, looking around wildly fearing this was some hologram.

                “Baby…it’s me.” He clutched my chin and the smooth feeling of his worn leather gloves traced worry spots on my face…traced all of the fresh scars.

                “Hate to interrupt you, but you’re gonna’ need to put a little speed in that step of yours, if you want to get him out.” A new voice, one I hadn’t heard before, came from over by the door, and I felt someone shoot the chains off of me. Drifter nodded at him, his gaze never leaving mine, and he picked me up and rolled me into his arms.

                “Wait…Ghost…”

                “Shin’s got her, don’t worry.” He murmured down to me and we started traversing through, and I felt my consciousness pass into nothing momentarily as his scent overwhelmed me. I still felt this could be some sick joke, and was holding back tears of joy just in case.

                “Shin?” I reached up and touched Drifter’s face, my husbands’ face, my lover…

                “Long story baby, I’ll fill you in when I can,” he muttered, and let Shin rush past him as he cast Golden Gun and started shooting. I huddled into Drifter’s chest and vaguely listened while a gunfight ensued, and I winced when I finally heard his voice…too close to me, but from my reaction to him Drifter was able to pass along information to the Renegade.

                “Shin, that’s the one. Kill him, before I do it myself,” he growled, and I heard swift gunshots being executed and a thud as it hit the ground. Finally, it seemed, I was getting off the ship that had held so much pain for me, and shivered as I was placed onto a small bed behind the driver’s seat. Drifter turned around to reassure me as Shin gunned it and we left that place behind as it blew up. I passed out shortly thereafter, and stayed down.


	9. Drifter

My mind was only on Dex, he perforated every thought, and it was all I could do to not turn around and look at him as much as I could.

                “Easy, he ain’t goin’ nowhere,” the Renegade’s voice carried over to me as I was slumped down in the seat next to him. My mind flashed back to the first conversation we’d had six months ago when he’d first told me we needed to talk.

                _“We need to talk.” I scoffed, not wanting to hear this shit right now._

_“Yeah yeah, you’re after me, but you know what? I don’t give a shit about you or anybody fucking else in the goddamned tower today, because-”_

_“Shut your damned mouth, I’m fixin’ to help you get that lover of yours back! We gotta go somewhere private to talk…” I had stopped cold in my tracks._

_“I’m listening.”_

                “Earth to Drifter,” his sardonic voice cut across my thoughts and I jolted. He laughed, the sound dry and raspy.

                “Whatcha want?” I asked curtly, and he gave me a long look as he turned on autopilot and set a course for my ship, the real one not the decoy we’d planted.

                “I am willing, under the circumstances, to let you…slip off. Seems to me you’ve been punished enough lately,” he nodded to the sleeping form of Dex. I wasn’t about to lie. It had been agony being away from him, not knowing where he was at and what was happening to him, and finding him bruised and broken…my blood boiled at the thought.

                “I gave you half of my contacts, like you wanted. All I wanted was my guardian.” I told him. He nodded, thumbing over his lip.

                “If I wasn’t already tracking that slimy git, it’s possible you wouldn’t have got him today. But let’s not focus on the ‘what-if’s’. You got back your lover, and he’ll need you after what he went through. I don’t much care about that little game of yours, but keep that gun of yours off other guardians and I think we can have a nice partnership.” I frowned deeply at him, not liking the fact I’d have to see more of him, but on the other hand…if it wasn’t for Shin Malphur, I wouldn’t be on my way home with a sleeping Dex.

                “No promises that I’ll stop being a scoundrel, but I’ll tell ya’ one thing; I hope I’m never at the receiving end of that golden gun of yours,” I told him with some feeling, and then I couldn’t help myself because I turned around to check on Dex who had two blankets over him and was snoring softly.

                “He’s a pretty one, you scored big time.” Shin commented, more to himself than to me, but it didn’t stop me from replying after licking my lips.

                “Yeah. Yeah, I did.”

                “You can climb back there with him if you want. You look like hell. Didn’t know the Drifter had it in him to feel emotion, but I guess there’s someone for everyone,” I nodded and then climbed up into the bed, lying next to Dex face to face and reaching out to run my finger along his chin. I was too tense to sleep at first, but then, and damn me for being so soft, Dex’s soft countenance drew me in and I dozed off next to him. I was only out for maybe thirty or so minutes before I felt Shin grabbing at my boots to get me to wake up. I pulled away to sit up and rubbed at my eyes, and Dex meanwhile sprung straight up with wild eyes and his fists raised like he wanted to fight someone.

                “Easy, easy, baby.” I reached for his bicep and his wide, unseeing eyes glanced over me and for a moment, I thought he’d swing at me. I rose a brow at him but he calmed down with some effort, and I pulled him into my arms tightly as he sobbed quietly into my chest.

                “We there yet?” I asked gruffly, looking over Dex’s hair at Shin. He nodded and pressed a button on his ship that transmatted us back onto The Derelict. I held Dex in my arms and picked him up, cradling him close to me as I took both of us to the shower. I made sure my movements were slow and precise, as he was shivering against the heated water running down the both of us and staring at me and around us with scared eyes. I crooned at him.

                “Shhh, it’s ok baby, you’re home. We’re home, alright? I ain’t gonna do anything you don’t want me to, yeah? I’ve just got shampoo, I’m going to scrub your hair ok?” He nodded, giving a shuddering breath and closed his eyes as I touched his hair and massaged his temple, leaning down to kiss his forehead before I had him lean forward to rinse. I sensed he was done after I ran the bar of soap over him and reached behind me to turn off the water, grabbing at a towel and wrapping him in it before picking him up and going to our room. Tears leaked out of his eyes as relief washed over his body, and I only knew because it’d happened to me before, and plus, there wasn’t anything in the verse like being home again. I pulled some of my own clothes out of a haphazard dresser drawer and slipped him into a shirt that was too big for him, and sweats that were baggy but because they were mine, they smelled like me and the ship so I figured it would help calm him down.

                “Drifter…” there was something different about his voice, but I shushed him and laid him down in the bed, locking the door and turning the lights down low. We stayed staring at each other, caressing each other’s faces for a long while, something I’d never done with anyone else, and the openness and rawness we shared in those moments hit me like a suckerpunch to the groin. There was great bags under his eyes, but he seemed to not want to sleep.

                “Dex, close your eyes baby. I’ll still be here when you wake up. Promise,” I ran my hand up and down his side and he shuddered before nuzzling closer to me and passing out. I knew it was gonna be slow goin’ from here on out, but at that moment, I was hard pressed to find a fuck to give about that. I had my Dex back in my arms, back in my bed, and I was gonna’ be damned if I lost him anytime soon…or ever again for that matter.

                Sure enough, the first few weeks were long and arduous for us, as he would constantly stop what he was doing and start breathing real fast, nearly dropping whatever he was holding at the time, but I knew that he was pushing himself to be better the more he realized this wasn’t all a dream. One such time arose in the kitchen when he was drinking a cup of coffee and stopped mid sentence, his eyes going wide as he started shaking. I got up and walked to him swiftly, boots soft on the ground and took the cup out of his hands gently, setting it beside the sink on the counter.

                “Dex. Come back to me, Dex.” His eyes shifted to mine and I asked him a few questions, usually what my name was and what the date was, and where he was, and it helped him come back to reality.

                “I…Drifter….” His rich, deep voice carried to my ears like music and I cupped each side of his face gently, both of us staring the other down. It had taken me longer than I cared to admit that he didn’t have his collar anymore and was actually utilizing his true voice, and dammit if it didn’t make me feel surges of arousal at all the wrong times. It was deeper than mine and more affluent sounding, but it was obvious that he was anything but high society snobby elite.

                “It’s fine. I ain’t mad.” I held him close to me, my lips brushing against his forehead and I felt his arms circle around my waist tightly.

                “Just…just don’t leave. I…”

                “Easy, Dex. Easy. I ain’t goin’ anywhere from you.” We stayed there for a long time, and when I felt he’d calmed down enough I reached down and picked him up, carrying him to our room. He curled up into me as I kicked open the door and then shut it behind us with my foot, nudging off my boots as I placed him on the bed and sat down with him. Sighing, and in a bold move from me, I took my necklace that always frequented my neck off and placed it on him instead. He blinked and then gazed up at me.           

                “But…I thought it was too dangerous to show people that you’re…well…”

                “In a committed, faithful relationship that I don’t want out of? That was fear talkin’. I don’t give a shit if people talk, it isn’t like they pay attention to you anyways, and besides…I ain’t so afraid of things anymore. Losing you gave me a lot of clarity on that.”

                “I never knew you were afraid to begin with.”

                “Oh, there’s a lot of things I kept from you that I shouldn’t have. I’ll…try to be more open, in the future.”

                “Drifter, I’m serious. If you’re not comfortable telling me something, you don’t have to, but if you want to tell me, then by all means, tell me. I still love you, you know,” the word still hit me when he said it, even though I knew full well he meant it. I smiled and brought his knuckles up to my lips, eyeing him heavily.

                “Anything you want to know, I’ll try to be more candid with you. But only with you, and only when we’re alone in this room. If you really want to be by my side until death, then I guess I’ll have to trust you.” He smiled and inched closer to me, nudging my nose with his and I knew that slight flush creeping up onto his face. He reached up played with the nape of my neck as he brought me close to his face, our lips just barely scraping against each other.

                “Are you sure you’re ready for this?” I asked huskily, lust already clouding my good judgement. He nodded and it was all the confirmation I needed before falling down and devouring his mouth hungrily; it’d been so long, so many long, dark, desperate nights without him by my side, and it all came out as I clutched his body closer to mine, our bodies becoming one as I slipped inside him without a second thought. He gasped, and this time I was able to hear every moan and every delicious sigh coupled with his glorious expressions, and it culminated in me coming harder than I ever had, filling him to the brim and then some. He came down breathing heavily and I pulled out, knowing it was all he had in him for tonight, but it was a start in the right direction. We fell asleep with our limbs tangled around each other, with matching shit eating grins on our faces.


	10. Dex

I woke up warm and more lighthearted than I’d felt in months, literally. My back was to Drifter, my head nestled in the crook of his arm and his burly arm was around my thin waist. I stretched, moving slowly so as not to disturb the sleeping man behind me, but it seemed that he was on high alert for any movement from me and his grip around me tightened. It was momentary, but it was enough that it made my mind fuzzy as love blossomed through my chest like an expanding balloon. I grinned and pressed myself closer to him and felt rather than heard the low rumbling chuckle he gave as he leaned forwards and kissed the back of my neck and shoulder. 

                “Mornin, sunshine.” I turned around to meet his lips and we nuzzled each other for a time before he pulled back to check the time.

                “Did you sleep ok?” I asked, voice raspy from having just woken up and he grinned beatifically at me.

                “With you? Always. You want breakfast?” I nodded, since I remembered he actually did cook things other than microwaved ramen, and it was something of a secret talent of his that he kept well-guarded. We got out of bed and pulled clothes on again, though this time we were both in casual wear and left our guns in the bedroom. I didn’t fear anything as long as I was with him, and he held my hand as he pulled us to the kitchen.

                “Right. You ever ate pancakes before?” he asked as I sat down at the table and reached to turn on the coffee machine.

                “No, can’t say that I have.”

                “Well, you’re in for a treat today then.” He set about bustling around the kitchen and I settled into the sturdy wooden chair at his small table, nursing a hot cup of instant coffee and smiling into it, one hand fingering his necklace that now adorned my throat. He made my heart beat so rapidly, especially when he was doing anything remotely domesticated. I hadn’t set out originally to tame him, I’d just wanted to be with him, but it seemed we’d grown closer in light of recent events. I spaced out a little and my ghost appeared out of nowhere to scan my body. She seemed to be obsessed with my health just like Drifter was and I only smiled at her.

                “It’s fine, ghostie, I’m fine.” I signed it to her and she disappeared before Drifter turned around again to reach up into the cabinets and get two plates. He placed quite a sizable stack of what looked like round, golden bread patties on top of each other onto a plate and then poured a brown, sticky looking liquid all over them before bringing them over to me and setting them down with a flourish. He pulled his chair around so he could sit right next to me and grinned, and I returned the smile faintly.

                “Shit, Drifter, this is…” he turned my chair so that my legs were inside of his and then he cut a bite for me, placing the fork at my lips. Ah, it was actually heaven on a plate! I made a noise that told him I thought it was delicious and he continued feeding me small bites.

                “Drifter, what about,” I swallowed before continuing, “you?”

                “Ah, I’m enjoyin’ this Dex. And I’m especially likin’ those noises you’re makin’ for me.” He leaned in as he said it and I giggled as he pressed his lips to my neck. It was a small gesture really, but it meant the world to me. I stayed close to him the rest of the day even after breakfast when I’d lovingly fed him too so he couldn’t get away with it. We went to our room and he worked on a gun while I slept again. It was something I did a lot of anymore, but he didn’t seem to mind. When I woke up he was still hard at work at his desk and I slipped my feet out of bed to get up when he was talking over his shoulder at me.

                “I’ll be there in a minute, baby. Just gotta’ get this…nngh!” he sounded frustrated as he did something to the gun and sighed when he stood up a moment later. I grinned at him and pushed myself up against the wall, beckoning him to come to me. He looked me up and down with a wicked glint in his eye and kneeled on the edge of the bed, kissing my knees and running a hand down my thighs.

                “Y’know, I needa’ get back to Gambit here soon, needa’ get some more motes and glimmer,” he commented, pressing his fingers harder into my legs to grip me better, and my breathing shallowed in response.

                “I’ll help then. I’ll help organize and run it. You can’t do it all, Drifter,” I told him, heat already rising through me and my nether regions making themselves prominent. He reached for the hem of the sweats I was wearing (his sweats) and tugged them down, falling onto me with hot open-mouthed kisses and his tongue lashing out against my neck. I groaned as I was in a fever dream with him yet again, the emotions taking me higher and higher before he finally started fucking me for real, grunting and groaning into my neck, breath hot in my ear as he muttered sweet nothings to me. As I was about to come I cried out to him, telling him I loved him, and he triggered my climax when I heard him rasp into my ear,

                “I love you too, Dex.”  Joy coursed through me and gave me energy for one more go with him, and I hastily turned around so I could straddle his thighs.

                “You’re on one tonight, ain’t ya?” he smirked up at me and I pulled his headband down into his eyes. He chuckled as I positioned him at my tight hot entrance that he’d just wrecked and gasped as I sat down on him. Different position meant a different angle he was going in, and this angle took some adjusting to get used to. I put one hand out on his chest, fingers running through the hair and he held onto my hips to help me get settled as I relaxed into him.

                “Drifter!” I sighed, feeling him starting to shove his cock into my heated core and he threw his head back to mutter something, his breathing coming out in hot panting gasps with the force of his staccato thrusts.

                “Dex!” he moaned, his throat exposed to me and so I took initiative and bit him playfully, reveling in the sight of a completely unraveled Drifter. Drifter who was always so well put together, was coming undone because of me, a simple guardian. I wasn’t the big hero who had dropped multiple big bads, I wasn’t anyone important, I was just….Dex, and I was madly in love with a man many considered to be a bad guy…and maybe he did run with them, but to me he was so much more.

                I rode him hard and we reached our orgasms at the same time, and I fell forward panting hard against his chest, my fingers threading through the hair and resting on his pecs.

                “Damn….baby…” he panted, and wrapped his arms around me to hold me close, keeping us socketed together.

                “Dunno what…got into me….Drifter,” I sighed into him and felt a weak hand pat my shoulder.

                “S’fine. Jus’…warn me next time…” we caught our breath and fell down into a heavy sleep shortly thereafter, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t completely satisfied with how things had turned out, experimentation be damned. So he fixed my throat so I could talk, what was the worst he could have done to me beyond torture? The answer to that I was soon to find out.


	11. Drifter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> keep in mind that the tags on this fic do warn about mpreg. just keep it in mind.

As promised, a few weeks went by and I started letting Dex run around and start helpin’ out with Gambit behind the scenes. I still wrangled up the baddies, but he had an eye for the small stuff and great attention to detail when it came time to set up, and I liked havin’ him around me. He still had flashbacks every so often and even though he thought I wasn’t really payin’ attention, they’d hit him in different ways. Sometimes he’d stare off into space, seeing things through wide eyes wrought with horror, and I’d gently bring him back to reality. Now was one such time.

                He was sitting on my couch in my screen room so we could watch the matches I had set up that night, and he was currently intent on devouring a box of takeout I’d went and got for us when the chopsticks slipped from his hands and his eyes shifted in and out of focus.

                “Drifter…?” he muttered, and I barely caught him as fell forwards, and then he looked around wildly while his chest rose and fell rapidly. Too fast for my liking, since the mood wasn’t even sexual at that moment.

                “Dex!” I pulled him close to me and he started shaking, his eyes turning black and purple like his warlock abilities, like a swirling galaxy. Tears started leaking out, but he didn’t look upset, he looked downright fuckin’ pissed off. He punched the wall by my head and yelled out and I just barely contained his arms at his sides before he blasted us to smithereens.

                “Son-of-a...” I cursed, and his anger turned to sobs of fear again.

                “He’s here! He’s on the ship!” At first, fear settled in the pit of my stomach and I reached for my gun but then I realized he was relivin’ somethin’ I couldn’t see. He screamed out in pain and reached up to grip my hair, pulling it so hard he ripped out some of it. I hissed in pain and pressed a spot on his neck that would make him pass out. I drug him back up to the couch and laid him down with his head in my lap, turning back to my game in the meantime and running my hand through his hair idly.

                “You got moves, brother,” I purred into the ear of one Titan that had just downed their Primeval, and felt movement at my thigh. I deftly ordered A.I. to cancel the remaining matches and took the ear piece out of my ear so I could give my full attention to Dex.

                “Mm…what happened? I feel like…I was hit by a train,” he reached up and rubbed at his eyes, and I smirked down at him. 

                “Well, baby, you attacked me, and then would have blown up our ship here if I hadn’t knocked you out.” He stared up at me with bloodshot eyes and slowly sat up.

                “Are you fucking serious?”

                “No, darlin’, I’m fucking you, and I ain’t lyin’ either.” I was hesitant to tell him what he’d said so decided to keep it on the DL for the time being; I didn’t want him to have another freak out session.

                “I’m tired, let’s…well, I’m going to bed, you don’t have to, but I feel…sick.” I glanced at the forgotten take-out box and narrowed my eyes at it, but it wasn’t as if it had been poisoned. I helped him up and to our room, makin’ sure he got nice and settled before I left him to go do rounds around the ship. My ghost zoomed out and I rolled my eyes.

                “Thought I told you to stay outta my sight?”

                “Yes, but this however is a matter that cannot wait. You love him, yes?”

                “Don’t see what that’s got to do with anythin’ involvin’ our relationship,” I growled at her as I continued clearing rooms.

                “Then you may want to sit down for this. I did some scans on him while he slept, and spoke with his ghost as well; seems that Dredgen scientist did a bit more to him than you thought, Drifter.” If she’d been a person I’d’ve thrown her to the ground, however as it was I gripped her tightly in my hands.

                “What did he do to him?! Tell me fuckin’ now!”

                “Well, amongst other things such as his voice being fixed, it looks like he also added female reproductive organs inside of him somehow. I don’t know whether it was through magic or science or both, but the man…Dex…is pregnant.” I stared at the ghost still in my fist before throwing my head back and laughing, hard, and letting her go. She floated by my shoulder and I propped myself up on the wall of the ship with my hand.

                “That’s…that’s hilarious! Seriously, though….” I turned to continue my rounds and the Ghost followed me.

                “Drifter. I’m serious. He’s not very far along, in fact we estimate he’s only a few weeks along.” She opened up the scan reports so I could see and sure enough…Dex’s anatomy had changed completely.

                “What sick shit did that man do to you, baby?” I muttered, my eyes looking over the scans in horror.

                “Don’t worry, we estimate the DNA to be a mix of yours and his.”

                “Are you…” I ran my hand over my face in frustration and ran back to our room to check on him, and sure enough he was retching into the wastebucket I kept by my desk.

                “Eesh, won’t be using those parts again,” I muttered as I kneeled by him, patting his back in concern.

                “Drifter…” Dex turned sorrowful eyes up at me and had that shifty look about him that he always got when he was tryna’ hide somethin’.

                “Easy there, hotshot. Let’s get you back to bed,” I murmured, putting the back of my hand on his forehead. He was burnin’ up and I made sure he was alright before I went and got a wet rag for his forehead.

                “Drifter, we…my ghost…the Dredgen…” he was incoherent, and I just soothed him as best I could.

                “Hey. Whatever happens, if it is real, we’ll get through this together, you got that?” I touched my necklace that was on his bare chest and he nodded, closing his eyes and falling asleep soon after. I sighed, heavily. I needed a fuckin’ drink, and would hopefully pass out just to wake up and find out this had all been a bad dream.

                I sat down at the table and started nursing a bottle of old liquor that I’d nicked off some trader a while back, and before I knew it I was talkin’ up a storm to my ghost. What I didn’t know was that I was actually talking to someone on the other end, and imagine my surprise when Shin fucking Malphur showed up on the other side of my table. I laughed, thinking I was well and truly fucked up. He had his helmet on, of course, but he shook his head at me.

                “Y’know, usually when I get calls from drunk guys in the middle of the night, it’s for a good fuckin’. You’re a taken man, Drifter, so why’re you like this?” I laughed at him again.

                “Oh, believe me, if I wasn’t an expecting father, I’d probably fuck you just for old times sake,” I slurred.

                “I oughta shoot you.”

                “Fuckin’ do it. But don’t kill me, no, Dex needs me.” Shin shook his head and then drug my by the scruff of my neck over to the sink, pushing my head under the cold running water.

                “Wake the fuck up, ya’ jackass. Guardians don’t have kids.”

                “Mine does.” I leered at him, making a fist and aiming for his head, which he easily ducked. He reached around and grabbed my ass, shoving me to stand closer to him and my mouth formed an ‘oh’ of shock before he clocked me on the side of the head and I went out.

                When I woke up, I had a splitting headache and I was sitting at the driver’s seat of my ship, and my ghost came up out of nowhere.

                “Fuckin’ Christ, you better have good news.”

                “Shin says you’re an asshole.” I laughed.

                “I knew that. What else did he say?”

                “He also said you better not call him when you’re drunk ever again.” I rolled my eyes.

                “What a fuckin’ drama-”

                “He said that because you’re a married man, and he’s not in the business of home-wrecking.” I groaned and put my head in my hands. Of course I’d made an ass of myself to Shin fucking Malphur. Dex….I spun around and stumbled a few times before I made it to our bedroom, but my baby was still sleeping soundly. I took off my duster and kicked my shoes towards the table before I crawled next to him, this time bein’ extra careful with him. He felt me movin’ and turned his head towards me, stretching into my body as he did so.

                “Mm…” his voice was scratchy as usual and I felt a pang of regret for how I’d taken the news last night.

                “Sleep alright?” I brought his hand up to my lips to kiss his knuckles and he shrugged.

                “I tossed and turned, Drifter. I…have to tell you something.” He sat up and I pulled him into my arms.

                “So…”

                “My Ghost told me what he did to you, Dex.” He turned his gorgeous bright blue eyes up to me in shock, and I ran a hand through his tousled thick black hair.

                “Drifter…I…”

                “Look, I don’t know what all he knew, or why he did this to you, but…we’ll figure it out. I ain’t goin’ nowhere, but we sure as hell better get outta here and find a nice distant planet where we can do this.” I reached down and rubbed his belly for assurance, and he bit his lip as he thought.

                “Alright. I’ll start looking for possible planets then.” It was a chance at a normal life, and I’d be damned if it didn’t sound way to appealing to me. I was done with everyone, the Dredgen, the Nine, the Vanguard, all of it. I was willing to give up Gambit for Dex, I was willing to leave it all for Dex, and, if everything was actually true…our family.


	12. Dex

The next few months passed by in a blur of movement for me, between being constantly sick and hiding myself from the outside world, and also looking for a distant, human-like planet that we could escape to. I felt slightly ashamed because I had never wanted Drifter to give up what made him, well, him, but at the same time, he was taking our situation so seriously. He must have really gotten scared when I’d been gone, and he was acting like he wanted to do some good for once. The fact that he was being extra protective over me as well was something I was not used to. I would bend over to pick something up off the floor and he’d come sliding out of nowhere and yell at me not to pick anything up. Usually he would follow it up by sweeping me off my feet and carrying me to wherever I needed to go, but regardless of how frustrating he could be at times he was still sweet on me. I wore his necklace every day and helped him out where I could when it came to checking things for his Gambit matches, but other than that I spent a lot of time in our room.

                I was idly looking for planets one day when my eyes alighted on one that looked promising. It was far off in a galaxy we’d never been to, but it boasted a bunch of life and best of all it seemed like it was outside the thumb of the Vanguard, or anything we’d ever known. I hefted my body off the bed and waddled as quickly as I could to where Drifter was, intent on showing him, but stopped when I heard him conversing in low tones with someone.

                “…getting the hell out of here, and I’m taking him with me. There ain’t no hope for us here, and I been alive way too long getting’ fucked over to not take this chance at a better life. So you can either get the fuck off my ship and never look back, or you can take this opportunity to embrace a little fun, Malphur.” I peeked my head around the corner, keeping to the shadows and clutching the jade necklace close to my chest so it didn’t swing and risk catching some light. Shin’s voice was too low to understand, but whatever it was made Drifter fly out of his seat and throw his cards on the table and grabbed Shin around the throat.

                “YEAH, SO WHAT, I’M TERRIFIED OF EVERYTHING! AND NOW THAT I HAVE SOMEONE WORTH PROTECTING, NOW IT’S FUNNY TO YOU?” I flinched at the level his voice got up to and started backing away, hearing his yelling become dimmer as I wandered around the ship. Drifter…was scared? I suppose it made sense, he ran with a lot of bad people, and before me he didn’t care if he lived or died. But things were different now. We…had a baby on the way, and we were married, and…I sat down in Drifter’s chair as my feet had taken me back to our room, and I chewed my lip as I became lost in thought. It wasn’t like Drifter to be so emotional, and if I had to guess, it was probably hitting him that he was going to be a father, something he’d probably never been able to have.

                I was still sitting there hours later when he came in to check on me and kicked his boots off with a sigh, flopping down on the bed. I turned with difficulty to see him, cradling my stomach as I did so.

                “You alright?” he asked, looking over me with a cursory glance to see that everything was the same. I nodded and leaned my chin on the back of the chair, our eyes meeting.

                “Good. How you like the thought of hightailin’ it outta here tonight?” I perked up, wondering what he had in mind. He’d been so busy the past few months, I hadn’t actually thought that he’d had time to find anywhere for us to go. I got up and steadied myself before walking to sit with him on the bed, his arm automatically circling around my waist and pulling us closer. I looked up at him and touched the side of his cheek, rubbing his beard with my fingers. His other hand found the back of my neck and then our lips were touching as he explored my body, rubbing my hips, thighs, stomach, chest. I grinned into his lips and deepened the kiss between us, feeling his tongue pushing into my mouth eagerly. If there was any way I could calm him down this was definitely it, because I felt the shaking throughout his body, the trembling in his fingers that he was trying to hide, and even the quivering of his lips. He pulled away and touched our foreheads together and I nudged his nose with mine.

                “Drifter, I don’t care when or where, as long as we’re together.”

                “Thought you’d say that,” he mused aloud as I kissed my way down his chest, taking clothes off haphazardly as I went. He watched me with interest as I slid down, kissing him through the fabric, watching as his eyes never left my face.

                “What? Don’t trust me?”

                “It’s…the opposite.” He said falteringly, and his eyes lowered as his cheeks reddened in shame.

                “Drifter…I promise I won’t hurt you. I want…to please you,” I reached for his belt buckle and undid it, sliding his pants down soon after so I could get to what I sought.

                “Careful with that,” he sighed as I took him into my mouth, and my fingers started traveling around his thighs in circular motions. His breathing shifted to more laborious sounds as I started at the head and slid down, licking the underside of his cock and sucking as I came back up. He watched me with his mouth parted slightly, his chest rising and falling and his cock hot in my mouth. I tongued his slit, tasting his salty precum and reached my fingers down to fondle his balls, wanting to go lower but wondering if he’d actually let me. I decided to test the waters, my mouth still working him, and I eyed him carefully to check his reactions.

                “Dex?” he asked, his hesitation palpable as my finger breached him, and I pulled away.

                “Drifter?” my voice was still thick and his weeping cock was begging me to come back.

                “I…I’m not…I haven’t…” he was stuttering, and I sat back on my thighs as I regarded him curiously. I’d never seen him like this ever.

                “I won’t do it if you don’t want me to,” I placed my hands on his thighs and he propped himself up on his elbows as his legs were still spread, cock leaning to the side a little at this point.

                “I ain’t done this since…well…since him.”

                “I understand. I won’t do it if it brings up something uncomfortable.”

                “No, you don’t…I loved him, Dex. I let him…fuck me. All the time. But then…” Drifter suddenly broke into silent tears and I rushed up to comfort him, holding him in my arms.

                “Ugh.” He wiped at his face furiously but they just kept falling, his body shaking as he tried holding it all in.

                “Just let it out.”

                “Dex, I want you to do it. I’m tired o’ bein’ so fuckin’ scared, I want…I know…you’re my new home, Dex. Wherever you are then that’s where I feel most comforted. It was just…sudden for me.” I nodded, kissing him back into a fever state before I returned to the abandoned blowjob, falling onto his cock like a hammer on a nail. I’d never seen his eyes so beautiful, tears leaking out every so often but his mouth groaning as I sucked him off. When I thought he was ready, I nudged his thighs a little further apart and slid my fingers back down, circling his tight ring of muscle before prodding him gently. His body jerked, but I had expected it, and kept pushing inwards until I glided upon his prostate. He gave a ragged cry and threw his head back, panting harshly as I continued going down on him while also fingering his ass. I loved it when he ate my ass, and I wondered if he felt this same surge in his ego when he did these things to me as I was feeling now. He squirmed at first, but I kept working him and loosening him up before I added another finger.

                “Uhhhnn! Dex!” he shouted, falling onto his back while I fucked him with my hand, mouth still intent on the plump head on his rigid cock. I felt him shudder beneath me and he came with a shout into my mouth, rupturing and oozing out and back down his cock he came so much.

                “Jeezus….fuckin’….” He wheezed, and I slowly withdrew my fingers before pushing my pants down and laying down next to him. He rolled over and kissed me desperately, his hand reaching down and rubbing my thigh before grabbing me in his hand and tugging. I came fast, since being pregnant meant that I was almost constantly horny at all times.

                “Don’t get used to that, hotshot.” He warned me, and I smirked at him smugly as he got up and put his pants back on.

                “Don’t worry. I like being the one getting his ass fucked.” I told him, and his short barks of laughter afterwards lightened the mood in the room considerably.

                “Right, so where are we off to?”

                “First, I’m takin’ you on a honeymoon o’ sorts throughout this galaxy, show you stuff you might not have seen yet, and then after that, we’re off to this pretty little planet I found for us. Quiet, off the beaten path, awash in nature. Still has humans on it, or alien life at least, but…I think you’ll like it.” I got dressed and followed him to the command centre where he sat down in the pilot’s seat and started putting in coordinates and what not. I bit my lip, wondering about what Shin had wanted earlier, but as I looked at the determination in Drifter’s eyes,  I strapped myself into a seat and focused on the way before us.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you to everyone that's read this story. it means the world to me. <3

It was several months later before we were able to set forth to the planet, and by this time, Dex was about ready to pop.  I’d be a liar if I said the sight of him swollen with my kid on his hips didn’t turn me on, but I had to be careful when we tussled anymore, I couldn’t risk him goin’ into labour prematurely. He was grouchy a lot lately, and always wanted to sleep, so I had a lot o’ time to myself at the driver’s seat, makin’ sure we got through space alright.

                He could fall asleep in almost any position, and if he wasn’t so trigger happy I’d have laughed a lot more often at how cute he was. Currently, he was asleep in the chair beside me, his head lolling to the side and a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. His long black lashes framed his cheeks and he had a hand on his stomach, and I smiled when I saw his stomach movin’ from the baby. I sat back and thought back on my long life, and realized I truly wanted this. I wanted a future with him, with our child, I wanted a family, and I wanted peace. I wanted out of it all, all the chaos and death that my life had, for too fuckin’ long, held. I rubbed my chin thoughtfully and watched him a while longer while he slept, and set the coordinates for the last part of our journey.

                It was called Alpha-Kai 7, and boasted a whole host of biomes and wildlife, to say nothing of bustling cities, towns, and other life. I’d seen him perusing it a while back and thought I’d look into it, but knew it was the one for us. We could live out in the mountains somewhere, or by the ocean, wherever Dex wanted to go, and I’d commit myself to give it to him. I wasn’t exactly sure when I’d got so damn maudlin, but for him? I’d give him everything and anything. He laid my soul bare without even trying, and fuck if I didn’t love him. I’d fallen for him hard, and even though he’d started out as just another guardian, he’d become my whole world.

                “Drifter?” he spoke through a yawn and I turned around to face him.

                “Yeah?”

                “We there yet?” His bright eyes watched as the stars rushed past us and the black vast expanse of space showed a blue planet off in the distance.

                “We’re still a couple days out, but we’re getting there baby.”

                “Good, because….I think my water just broke.”

                “Shit!” I hissed, tearing myself out of the seat and rushing over to him, and his face grimaced in pain as he experienced what I guessed was a contraction. I picked him up and ran through the ship, shouting for the A.I. to take control and I went to the room I hadn’t unlocked in years, the room I’d shared with a distant memory. I’d assisted in a couple of births over the course of my long life, but the last time I’d done had been at least a hundred years back. I laid him down on the bed that took up the majority of the room, and he was crying in pain by this point. I ripped his clothes off and got to work, and gave him a piece of leather to bite down on.

                It was long, and he almost bled out, but at the end I was holding a squealing, pissed off baby in my arms and I was tearing up as I looked at him. Dex’s ghost healed him up and I cleaned off our baby before giving it to him. The kid had pitch black hair and Dex’s blue grey skin, but the eyes were normal like my own. Dex looked up at me with his eyes shinin’ and I sat down with him, holding him close.

                “What’s his name, Drifter?” Dex looked up at me and cuddled our boy, and I made sure that the baby was warm before I spoke. I’d thought about it a good bit, and there was only one name that I could think of that fit him.

                “Eli.”

                “Eli? Alright.” Dex smiled down at him and his Ghost materialized a hot bottle with white liquid.

                “He’s hungry, and Dex doesn’t quite have the equipment to feed him naturally,” she spoke, and I nodded. Kid downed it, burped, then fell asleep, and my heart grew wider to envelope him as well as Dex.

                “You rest, I’ll be back in to check on you in a bit.”

                “Alright,” Dex fell asleep, holding the baby close to his chest, and pulled the blankets so they were around both of them. I found a small heater in one of my supply crates and turned it on for ‘em so they didn’t get cold, and went back to sit at the helm of the ship, taking the reigns back from the A.I. and driving us to our destination.

                Tears of joy leaked out of my eyes, and I wiped at them every so often, and as I got closer to the planet, I started to relax. 

                Before I knew it, we were planet-side, and I landed the our small ship in the trees. I would have to make back and forth trips getting all our stuff, but afterwards I was plannin’ on blowing up _the Derelict._ No more running, no more hiding, and no more fear. I had a family to take care of, and for the time I had a purpose again.

                We built a small house up by a pristine alpine lake, and this world reminded us both a lot of Earth, how it used to be. Our house was a two bedroom, Eli getting his own room and I left it up to Dex to decorate how he wanted. He had surprisingly good taste, and I was finally able to sit down on our front porch, stare up the sky, and relax. It had been a long time since I felt so at peace, and I’d do it all over again if I had to if it meant meeting Dex and starting our own adventure together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and we end here, and for now, this is the end of Drifter and Dex...


End file.
